Erik Paulsen: “I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership as chair of the committee. Members, it is really easy…”

“I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership as chair of the committee. Members, it is really easy and comfortable to think that human trafficking or sex trafficking only happens outside of the United States. The truth is that it is happening right here, in our own communities and right in our own backyards. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to a girl named Dayanna. Dayanna tells me the story of how she is the oldest in a family of a single mother, with brothers and sisters, and her mother had no interest in caring or in giving her or her siblings love and attention. So Dayanna is looking for love and attention, and she is seduced by a man who promises to treat her and to respect her the way she deserves. He even calls himself her boyfriend. At age 13, within days of running away, Dayanna finds herself in Philadelphia and in Chicago, being trafficked and separated from her family. Sadly, this is happening to too many young girls in America, and I use the word ``girls'' for a reason. The majority of these victims are not old enough to have graduated from high school. They are not old enough to have voted in an election. They are not even old enough to have passed their drivers' tests because we are talking about 12- and 13- and 14-year-old girls. Those most at risk of victimization are the vulnerable. They are lured under the false promise of better lives, and then they are forced into prostitution.…”